National Telecom's (NT) 700-megahertz service still has no clear plan to acquire new subscribers or earn another revenue stream, though the company has already paid three billing cycles for the spectrum licence fee to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission.
The state enterprise clinched the spectrum band at an auction in February 2020. NT's 700MHz network earns revenue from existing customers it gradually migrated from other spectrum bands.
NT paid an additional amount of more than 1 billion baht over the past six months as a spectrum roaming fee to private mobile service operators, according to a source on the NT board who requested anonymity.
The roaming expense stems from NT's gradual switching off of its service on its other spectrum bands to migrate its customers to the 700MHz band before licensing for the other bands expires in 2025, said the source.
As many of NT's mobile customers use devices incompatible with the 700MHz band, they roam using the spectrum bands of private operators. As a result, NT pays the roaming fee.
NT began migrating customers from its other bands to the 700MHz network early this year.
NT board chairman Nattapon Nattasomboon said management has yet to introduce a clear plan to launch a campaign to acquire new subscribers for the 700MHz network.
He said the state enterprise has focused on migrating 700,000 active customers on its other bands to the 700MHz band.
NT was formed through the merger of state telecom agencies TOT and CAT Telecom in 2021.
Prior to the merger, TOT partnered with Advanced Info Service to provide mobile phone service on TOT's 2100MHz band. TOT also partnered with Total Access Communication on TOT's 2300MHz band.
NT's rights to the use of those two spectrum ranges expire next year.
CAT partnered with True Move H Universal Communication on CAT's 850MHz band. NT's rights to the spectrum expire in September 2025.
After 2025, NT plans to only offer mobile service on the 700MHz band.
Mr Nattapon said NT has migrated around 5,000 customers daily to the 700MHz network, with a goal to migrate 300,000 customers by the end of this year.
NT has around 1.5 million subscribers on all spectrum bands, of which 700,000 are active users. NT's average revenue per user monthly is around 100 baht.
Around 100,000 NT customers use the 850MHz service and 3G wireless service. They will have to switch to 4G handsets after migrating to the 700MHz band.
Currently NT gains annual revenue of 15 billion baht from the three partnership agreements with private operators, regarding the 2100MHz, 2300MHz and 850MHz bands. However, these agreements will expire in September 2025.
Prasert Jantararuangthong, the digital economy and society minister, said the 700MHz service is one of NT's most critical issues.
He said only 11 months remain before the private partnership contracts expire that generate 15 billion baht annually for NT, which will require a company reshuffle.
Mr Prasert said he plans to follow NT's 700MHz business development as it becomes more critical.
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